Big Ten Football Power Rankings 11/18/2024

18. Purdue Boilermakers

Purdue’s record speaks for itself. With a new Head Coach, they have taken a dramatic descent from being among the worst teams in their conference to being among the worst teams across all sports—most recently losing 49-10 against Penn State as part of an ongoing streak of decisive defeats.

17. Northwestern Wildcats

The Wildcats still have a shot at a bowl game; if they can beat Michigan and Illinois, they can’t. The best thing you can say about the Wildcats is that they are not Purdue.

16. Maryland Terrapins

Maryland’s season took another step backwards in Week 12 with their defeat by Rutgers. Although Mike Locksley’s program managed to beat USC earlier in 2024, their year has otherwise been disappointing.

15. Michigan State Spartans

Michigan State’s midseason momentum has come to a sudden halt with consecutive losses against Michigan, Indiana and now Illinois reducing them to 4-6 overall and necessitating an immediate turnaround to reach a bowl game.

14. UCLA Bruins

UCLA’s recent resurgence was dealt a severe setback on Friday. Although their stats might indicate otherwise, UCLA still lost despite holding Washington quarterback Will Rogers to just 115 passing yards, one touchdown pass and two interceptions – as two key drives fumbled away and they were held to field goals during key situations – rendering this defeat an embarrassment and severely diminishing bowl hopes for UCLA.

13. Rugers Scarlet Knights

Rutgers has seemingly turned the page on their midseason slump after a win over Maryland – an emphatic 20-7 thrashing by Greg Schiano’s squad – that have the Scarlet Knights bowl eligible again – for the second year running and third time overall in four years.

12. Nebraska Cornhuskers

Nebraska is currently winless in nine consecutive games with bowl eligibility on the line – that includes four straight losses after opening with five victories to begin the year 5-1 – and continues to find new ways of disappointing its fans each season.

11. Wisconsin Badgers

Wisconsin displayed impressive resilience throughout their game against Oregon on Saturday evening, showing especially after suffering a 44-10 defeat against Iowa in Week 10. Unfortunately, Wisconsin ultimately fell short and are yet to claim their defining win of Luke Fickell’s tenure as coach.

10. USC Trojans

USC avoided disaster against Nebraska on Saturday thanks to QB Jayden Maiava who made a positive first impression as he secured victory for USC.

The Trojans are currently 5-5 with final games against UCLA and No. 8 Notre Dame coming up. A 7-5 finish could provide them with some much-needed momentum going into 2025.

9. Michigan Wolverines

Michigan remains in the upper half of the Big Ten by default, while other teams struggle to impress with solid wins and significant losses alike. Here we see five five-win teams all boasting substantial victories and losses respectively.

8. Minnesota Golden Gophers

Minnesota had the chance to reach No. 5 before an unexpected road loss at Rutgers halted their momentum. Minnesota now finishes against Penn State and Wisconsin; any win would be considered successful while any two wins would be devastating results.

7. Washington Huskies

Washington’s playing style this season has been difficult to pinpoint; one week it could get completely routed while on another week it could pull out a convincing win. Jedd Fisch has certainly done a stellar job leading his squad so far; bowl eligibility marks a solid season.

6. Iowa Hawkeyes

Iowa will use their games against Maryland and Nebraska as an opportunity to shake what was a demoralizing loss at UCLA in Week 11. Iowa had enjoyed an outstanding season by many measures; but their loss at UCLA stopped any chance at an impressive 9-3 finish.

5. llinois Fighting Illini

Illinois put to rest any talk of regression with their dominant win over Michigan State. Illinois are enjoying one of their finest seasons since 2010, only Rutgers and Northwestern stand between them and 9-3 record finish.

4. Penn State Nittany Lions

Penn State has a shot to be a playoff team, unfortunatley if they make the playoffs James Franklin will be coaching then, hes a good coach but comes upo short against the best teams.

3. Indiana Hoosiers

The biggest game in Hoosier football history awaits as the Hoosiers travel to Ohio State on Saturday, the winner will play Oregon in the Big Ten Championship game.

2. Ohio State Buckeyes

The Buckeyes blew Northwestern out as to be expected. Next up the Buckeyes host the Hoosiers in a maddive game.

1. Oregon Ducks

Life in the Big Ten can be tough for top teams like Oregon. On Saturday night in Madison, Wisconsin they made history and are just two victories away from an undefeated regular season record with Washington on tap for their last game in Week 14.